Baby Done Gone
by Aviv b
Summary: Last Year, dreidels were disappearing from Cardiff. This year, it's the baby Jesus from the Nativity display. What is it with aliens and holiday symbols?


**Last Year, dreidels were disappearing from Cardiff. This year, it's the baby Jesus from the Nativity display. What is it with aliens and holiday symbols? Graphics as well as the Dragnet video may be found at: http:/ artwork_avivb. livejournal. com/ 6740 .html (remove spaces)**

A/N : Finally, the promised Myfanwy Christmas fic. Not nearly as cracky as I anticipated, but the plot bunnies had other things in mind. The churches are real, Father Morgan and the parishioners are fictional. No offense intended.

**Comments are love, and everyone needs a little love at Christmas, right?**

* * *

The call came in the week before Christmas. Ianto was down in the Archives so Gwen spoke to the police.

"I see. Yes, that's very unfortunate. Did anyone see….no I understand. And the parishioners, do they have any idea….no, we'll do what we can." She hung up the phone and sighed. Ever since Torchwood solved the mystery of the disappearing dreidels, the police contacted them when something belonging to a church went missing.

"Another call?" Owen asked. "What this time? Someone steal money from the poor box?"

"Or are some sacred relics missing?" Tosh snarked.

Jack heard the last bit as he walked out of his office. He saw the look of exasperation on Gwen's face. "Come on kids, we may not be a religious lot, but let's be careful with making sport of the churches here in Cardiff."

"It's not the churches that are the problem, it's the police," Ianto added as he came up the stairs from the Archives. "Remember last month, when a gold plated communion cup was stolen from St. Mary's, the police called insisting there was an alien involved."

"And it turned out to be a theft by a young drug addict," Tosh added.

Owen snorted. "And the cup was found at a pawn shop in Penwarth a few weeks later."

"The police do try to blame a lot of stuff on aliens don't they?" Gwen pointed out.

"Well, if they can say an unsolved crime is alien in origin, then it doesn't count as a negative on their statistical record because they aren't supposed to deal with those cases," Jack said. "So what have the got this time?"

"Seems as if a figure was stolen from an outdoor Nativity display in the front of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Neath."

"Anything of value?"

Gwen shook her head. "Not monetary value, but of great importance to the church. Somebody stole the baby Jesus out of the crèche. They report strange scratch marks around the manger."

Tosh started to giggle. "Well that hardly seems like an alien issue, unless some Weevil decided they wanted a baby doll for Christmas."

"Probably a bunch of kids, thinking it would be funny," Ianto speculated. "Doesn't stuff like this happy pretty frequently?"

Gwen searched police reports for the previous five years and found over a dozen reported thefts from church or home nativity scenes. In every case, whether it was the baby Jesus (the most popularly stolen item), or one of the wise men, or in one case a life size cardboard camel it had always been a crime perpetrated by youthful offenders, often following a bit of excessive drinking or drugging. Most of the time the property had been recovered, but a few times the items had been tossed in a trash bin and destroyed. No aliens had ever been implicated in a Christmas nativity theft before.

The rift had been quiet all week, almost like it was taking a little Christmas break, so as a courtesy, Jack and Ianto volunteered to go talk to Father Morgan at St Joseph's. It was probably just a harmless prank, but as the police had insisted that something seemed rather unusual about the crime scene, it wouldn't hurt to take a look.

They drove out to the church the next morning and parked where they had a good view of the front of the church and the nativity display. They were surprised at the size and detail of the presentation. The figures were just about life size and there were the wise men, animals and the holy family all beautifully arranged. And there was a backdrop of a night sky and lights to illuminate the scene at night.

Father Morgan was waiting anxiously by the nativity display. He shook hands with Jack and Ianto and then turned back to the display. "I just can't understand this," he said, "this was a project that whole parish participated in making, why would someone want to ruin it a few days before Christmas?"

Jack and Ianto looked at each. Father Morgan was teary-eyed he was so upset. "Father, can you walk up through the timeline of when the nativity was constructed and when you think the theft occurred."

"We had an old wooden nativity scene, but after forty years of outdoor use, it was in pretty bad shape. So the mothers of the Sunday school children raised money to buy a new scene. The ones they found of this size were thousands of pounds, and even with numerous bake sales and fundraising drives they couldn't raise that amount of money."

"We didn't know what to do until one of our newest parishioners mentioned that he had done set design with a community theater in Penbroke. He volunteered to lead the project to make our own display from scratch. He drew up the designs and literally dozens of congregants donated time to work on the display. Everything from the lumber for the backdrop to the carving and painting of the figures to the clothes worn by the figures was made or donated by the parishioners. It took almost four months to complete. We just assembled it three days ago, and put the baby Jesus out for just a little while before Mass that morning to see how the crèche would look when totally assembled. I meant to take the baby Jesus in but got distracted and forgot. When Mass was over, I came out and the figure was missing."

"Was the baby particularly valuable in any way? Was there a reason you didn't want to leave the figure out with the display?" Father Morgan looked at Jack in confusion.

"I don't mean valuable as a religious symbol, but was the figure an antique or was it dressed in jewelry or anything like that?"

"No we used a wooden carved figure just like the rest, nothing special about the paint, or the clothing. It's our tradition that we don't put the baby Jesus into the display until just before Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve when we gather a sing a few carols before the service." The priest sighed and shook his head. "I can't understand why anyone would want to do this."

On first inspection, neither Ianto nor Jack could see anything unusual about the manger where the figurine had been placed. "This happens more often than you'd think," Ianto said gently. "It's generally some neighborhood kids playing a prank, not realizing how upsetting this can be."

"You probably think I'm daft, but that's exactly what I thought. Then I noticed these marks on crèche and those don't look like something a kid would make unless he had a very large knife." The Priest frowned in frustration.

Ianto bent to examine the gouges more closely. "And you're sure these weren't here before the theft?"

"Absolutely, I had the designer come over and he said those were not part of the design. He thought maybe someone had actually cut up the baby Jesus figure and then decided it was too offensive to leave."

"Well it certainly would be," Ianto agreed.

Jack and Ianto asked a few more questions, got the names and addresses of the parishioners who had helped assemble the display as well as the designer's contact information.

"What will you do, if you don't find your missing baby?" Jack asked.

"We've already gone out and purchased a large plastic baby doll. It doesn't look quite right, but it will have to do… I'm being silly aren't I? Christmas isn't about material things, but I feel so badly for everyone who worked so hard on this project. The congregation will be heartbroken."

"No, no that's perfectly understandable, you hate to think that someone would vandalize such an important holiday symbol," Ianto said still staring at the gouges in the manger.

"I almost hope it is aliens," Father Morgan said quietly, "that would be easier to accept than neighborhood kids, somehow."

The days leading up to Christmas passed by quickly. Between the rift throwing out its usual assortment of surprises, and getting ready for the holiday, the team had little time to investigate the theft of the baby Jesus. But nothing they came across, not even the Glaxons with their three heads and red and green eyes provided any clues to what happened to the figure.

The police interviewed the usual suspects; kids with records from minor thefts right up through hard core gang members and drug dealers and also came up empty-handed. Ianto spoke with the police community liaison in Neath two days before Christmas. He sadly told her that Torchwood hadn't been able to find any clues about who took the baby, alien or human.

"We haven't either. It's like it just vanished into thin air."

As Ianto hung up the phone an idea occurred to him.

He climbed up to Myfanwy's nest to pay her a visit. He couldn't say that he was totally surprised when he saw the wooden figure in her nest. She had covered it with straw and was standing over it protectively.

Ianto knew that he was going to have to use all of his persuasive powers to settle this to everyone's satisfaction.

"Myfanwy, what have you got there?"

"Squawk, squawk." (Naked baby left out in the cold).

"Do you know what that is?"

Myfanwy squawked stubbornly several more times. (They left baby in the cold).

As he watched Myfanwy pack some more straw around the baby, it occurred to him that perhaps Myfanwy thought the baby was real. But when he tried to explain to her that the figure wasn't real, she clacked her beak and snapped at him.

Ianto sighed as he climbed out of the nest. This was going to be harder than he thought.

The following day, Ianto returned to the nest with an all-in-one that he thought would fit the figure. "Look Myfanwy, I brought some clothes for the baby. Let's put it on him so he won't be cold."

Myfanwy observed Ianto closely as he dressed the carving.

"Squawk." (Good, no more cold baby).

But when Ianto tried to remove the baby from the nest she again snapped at him in warning.

Once again he climbed out of the nest, discouraged, but not defeated.

If there was one thing that Ianto had learned over the last year was that Myfanwy listened to everything going on in the Hub and understood a lot more than the others gave her credit for.

So later that day when he went to take Jack his coffee, he sat down across from Jack and spoke quietly to him.

Jack listened carefully as Ianto explained the situation and Ianto's proposed solution. Jack felt it was a long shot, but worth a try.

"And if it doesn't work, then what?" Jack asked.

"Then we leave the baby where it is. I don't think we should risk getting injured over it and the parishioners will not let this ruin their Christmas."

Jack and Ianto had overnight rift watch and after everyone left, they ate a quick dinner and settled in to watch some movies.

"In honour of Christmas, I thought we might watch 'The Nativity' tonight," Ianto shouted from Tosh's workstation to Jack who was just straightening up some paperwork in his office.

"Good idea, it will help us get into the holiday spirit," Jack agreed as he went to turn on one of the large monitors over Tosh's desk.

"Yes, the story of the birth of the baby Jesus is so lovely and so important to people," Ianto added.

They heard some quiet rustling from Ianto's aerie and knew that Myfanwy had settled in to watch the movie as well. Occasionally, Ianto would check the reflection of Myfanwy's nest in one of the darkened video screens. He could see her looking at the baby, then looking at the screen, then looking at the baby in her nest once more.

When the movie ended, Jack and Ianto had a brief exchange on the importance of the nativity scene as a symbol of Christmas.

"You know," Jack said as the second film ended, "I wonder if someone took the baby, not realizing how important it was to the people who belong to that church."

"That could be. Someone might have thought that the baby was lonely, or cold, or sick, and not understand that it was right where it belonged."

"Squawk!" (Oh, MY BAD).

"Well I'm sure if it was put back, no one would make a fuss about it; they'd be so happy just to have the baby Jesus back in his crèche," Jack said sighing dramatically.

"Those parishioners will be so sad if there baby isn't returned by Christmas Eve."

"Why that's tomorrow night isn't it?" Jack said.

The next day Ianto spied Myfanwy frantically uncovering then recovering the baby in her nest. Ianto was sure that she wanted to return the carving, but also wanted to protect it.

They had one last chance when they sent everyone home early on Christmas Eve. They had opened the skylight and finished decorating the Hub.

"Jack, come watch this video. It's my favorite episode of an old American television program, 'Dragnet.' It's so sweet."

As Myfanwy watched, the screen filled with a distraught man in a black outfit lamenting to two men that someone had stolen the baby Jesus from the church nativity display. She watched all the way to the end when the little boy returned the baby but was still uncertain about what to do.

"Well time to go over to that church in Neath. They'll be lighting up the nativity scene around ten-thirty and singing carols until they go in for Midnight Mass."

"Yeah, and you know they are going to blame us for the missing baby," Ianto said to Jack. "They still believe an alien took it. It makes Torchwood and aliens look really bad."

"Time to face the music," Jack said punctuating his statement with another dramatic sigh.

There was a good sized crowd already gathered at the church steps when Ianto and Jack arrived. The Nativity was in total darkness, the lights were timed to go on as the carols began. Jack and Ianto spoke to Father Morgan who reported that as of sunset, the carving of the baby Jesus had not been returned. He had reluctantly put the plastic doll in the crèche and hoped with the darkness and the excitement and the singing that perhaps no one would notice, or at least not comment if they did.

"Well here's to hope," Ianto told him.

At ten thirty PM, Father Morgan addressed the congregation from the church steps. He spoke of the labor of love that had gone into creating the new nativity scene. And he spoke with pride of how the whole parish had come together to accomplish what had seemed to be an impossible task.

As they all moved over to the front of the nativity display, Ianto whispered, "It's show time."

Suddenly all the spot lots were turned on. The crowd oohed at the beautifully display. Jack and Ianto both realized that the beautiful carved baby Jesus was back in his rightful place. Something seemed unusual though…

"It's a miracle," Father Morgan cried with joy. The rest of the congregation was puzzled by his remark, and that camel…

"It's brilliant, just brilliant," Ianto said loudly. "Look! They've incorporated a Welsh dragon into the figure of the camel. See how _still_ and stately and _quiet_ it is, its perfect."

A few people giggled at Ianto's outburst, but then a few began to applaud and soon everyone joined in. They had to admit that the camel was unique and beautiful. And no one noticed when Ianto turned to Jack and said softly, "Extra chocolate for you if you stay quiet and don't fidget." No one except the camel who never moved a muscle.

The parishioners sang carols until eleven thirty and then began to file into the church for Mass. Father Morgan came over and thanked them in getting the baby Jesus returned.

"I can't really say we had much to do with it. I think someone felt a little guilty and decided to return it when no one was looking," Ianto said shaking the Father's hand.

Father Morgan laughed. "I am going to have to have a talk about that camel with the designer. Very creative, but I'm not sure appropriate."

"As a Welsh patriot, I think it's very nice. Of course, I'm not Catholic…" Ianto quickly added.

"No, you're right, I'm just surprised that I didn't notice it when we first assembled the display."

They were invited to Mass, but declined citing important Torchwood business. "You know Father, things have a way of looking different in the morning. I think you'll find that camel looking right at home by then," Jack said with a twinkle in his eye.

"I'm certain it will. Now where did that man working the spotlights get off to? Don't want to leave display lit up all night. And I need to get ready for Mass."

'We'll take care of it Father, don't give it another thought," Ianto said. "And Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas to you both; Torchwood has earned a place in my prayers for many years to come."

After all the parishioners had gone inside the church, Jack and Ianto switched off the lights.

Ianto ran up to Myfanwy. "You did very good Cariad."

Myfanwy squawked once but Ianto quickly quieted her.

"Shhh, head back home and I'll have a big chocolate treat for you."

Myfanwy pulled her head back from over the painted camel's head, shook out her feathers but hesitated as she looked at the baby Jesus in the manger. Ianto suddenly noticed the plastic doll that Myfanwy had pushed out the manger in order to put the original figure back in the display. She had cleverly hid it behind one of the wise men.

"Myfanwy, would you like to take the other baby back to your nest? It doesn't have a family to look after it and I'm sure it would be glad to have a nice warm place to stay."

After a few moments of consideration, Myfanwy waddled over to the plastic baby and began to nudge it away from the display. Ianto picked it up and signaled her to circle. Myfanwy took a short run and flew up into the sky.

She squawked loudly as she circled the church grounds, but there was no one but Jack and Ianto to hear. Suddenly, she swooped down and Ianto threw the plastic doll up to her much like he had with other toys many times in the Hub. Myfanwy grabbed the doll in her talons and began to circle once more.

It had just turned midnight and bells from St. Joseph's and many other churches began to ring.

"Squawk, squawk, squawk." (Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.)

"Squawk, squawk, squawk." (I took baby Jesus on his very first flight! Go me! Happy Christmas!)

Ianto gave the hand signal for her to return to her aerie and she quickly flew out of sight.

"Think anyone will notice her," Ianto worried.

"No, and if they do, we can just say that one of Santa's reindeer got lost."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Do you really think that anyone would believe that?"

"Do you think anyone would believe that a Pteranodon had baby Jesus in protective custody," Jack snarked.

"Point," Ianto conceded.

"How about you and me go home and make a little Christmas music of our own?"

"Just promise that you won't start singing the Hallelujah Chorus."

"Oh come on Ianto…"

"Jack," Ianto said with a slight threat in his voice.

"Ok, ok, I just was having a little fun."

As they drove back to Cardiff, Jack noticed Ianto looking pensively out the window of the SUV. "What are you thinking?"

"I wonder if Myfanwy misses her home. Maybe she had a family of her own and was looking to replace a lost chi…uh…hatchling."

"_Lots of folks far away from their space and time,"_ Jack thought as he pondered the many ways that he and Myfanwy were kindred spirits. And while he couldn't go back, maybe…

"Ianto, how would you feel if we could find a way to get Myfanwy home?"

"That would be brilliant! I'd miss her of course, but I'm sure she'd want to go home if she could."

"I was thinking that if the Doctor stopped by for another visit maybe we could persuade him to return Myfanwy to her home."

"Do you think so?" Ianto asked excitedly. And then it occurred to him…"Would you be asking the Doctor to take you home as well?"

Jack smiled. He had anticipated that Ianto would raise this point. "Don't be daft, Ianto. I'm here on planet Earth, in Cardiff, Wales with you. I am home."

Ianto smiled and looked out the window of the SUV to hide his embarrassment. Jack continued to drive occasionally glancing over at Ianto. He didn't know if it was the time of the year, or some type of magic, but he felt his heart opening to the possibilities of something more than just a comfortable, casual relationship with the man sat beside him.

As he pulled into the car park near the Hub, Jack pondered his confusing emotions about Ianto Jones. Could he, dare he, have a real relationship with Ianto knowing that he would lose him eventually? Was this a good time to be contemplating such a big step? And then he remembered what the Doctor told him about Christmas so many years ago.

"Christmas is the day that binds all time and space together."

Maybe that was what Christmas was, after all, Jack mused. The chance to start anew, to discover other possibilities, to embrace joy and discover love. A day to look to the future, rejoice in the present and remember the past. Jack sighed.

"What are thinking about?" Ianto's question startled Jack out of his reverie.

"You," Jack said as he leaned over and kissed Ianto on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Cariad."

Ianto raised one eyebrow at Jack's comment. He had never called Ianto 'Cariad' before. He felt his own heart swell with love for this amazing man, and took a leap of faith..

"Happy Christmas, Jack, Rwy'n dy garu di Cariad." Jack smiled, leaned over and kissed Ianto again.


End file.
